Diffusion in the general theory of relativity

Abstract

The Markovian diffusion theory in the phase space is generalized within the framework of the general theory of relativity. The introduction of moving orthonormal frame vectors both for the position as well the velocity space enables to bypass difficulties in the general relativistic stochastic calculus. The general relativistic Kramers equation in the phase space is derived both in the parametrization of phase space proper time and the coordinate time. The transformation of the obtained diffusion equation under hypersurface-preserving coordinate transformations is analyzed and diffusion in the expanding universe is studied. It is shown that the validity of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem ensures that in the quasi-steady state regime the result of the derived diffusion equation is consistent with the kinetic theory in thermodynamic equilibrium.Comment: 10 pages, no figure